Naruto Shippuden: Ghost in the Shadows
by Tsion
Summary: At the threat of a new outbreak of war, leaders from each hidden ninja village sends forth their potential successor to be part of an elite ninja squad, tasked with mending the plummeting relations between countries.


1Ghost in the Shadows

Chapter 1

Three kunai left. Three more shots at surviving this battle. Such thoughts were running through the lavender haired shinobi as he frantically tree-hopped toward the center of the large forest that was the battleground. The trees here were extremely tall, approximately one hundred meters in height, and their branches curved into each other forming a natural dome of wood and leaves. A few rays of sunlight penetrated the cracks and spaces in between the canopy of leaves and filtered down into the dome. All around this forest, there were signs of the battle that had been raging for five hours now. He sighed, focusing his chakra into the little calming exercises he had learned and not appreciated until this very moment. The three kunai that gave him hope wouldn't matter if he were to fall from this height.

He could sense his opponent somewhere near him, but could not pinpoint the exact location. The shinobi pushed off of the penultimate tree branch, gripping onto another and pulling himself up into a crouching position onto it. Beads of perspiration glistened on his dark brown skin as they streamed down his slightly bruised face. His lavender hair trailed after him as he glanced about from his vantage point. He dug one hand into his dark grey flak jacket and pulled out his first kunai, twirling it slightly. With his other hand, he undid his Hidden Mist hitai-ate and held it in front of him, ignoring his own reflection and glancing at it off and on to ensure that he would not be surprised from behind.

"Ichi..."

Then he waited. At the center of the dome, one had the advantage of having a total view of the entire surroundings. Not that he needed to see his opponent to know when he was coming. In fact, it was surprisingly easy. There was no way he could miss his adversary's mass of spiky, blond hair, strange whisker marks and piercingly confident blue eyes, or his bright orange jumpsuit and bandana styled hitai-ate that proudly bore the symbol of his allegiance to the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

Still, even with all of this, his opponent may have been able to remain hidden, provided he'd had the tact. However, as this shinobi had noted long before, subtlety was not the Konoha ninja's forte.

"Found ya!!!" came a loud and somewhat arrogant voice from behind him.

The shinobi glanced up, a wry smile on his face as he whirled around to come face to face with his opponent. He reversed his grip on the kunai and moved his arm backward at a fairly rapid pace. His arm came to a sudden stop when the Konoha ninja clasped his hand tightly around the purple haired young man's wrist. In a counterattack, the blond haired boy took out a kunai of his own, volleying off of his opponent's arm and embedding his foot deep into the other's cheek. Because of the Konoha ninja's hold on him, the Mist ninja held his ground. He had dropped the kunai in his own imprisoned hand and used it to trap his opponent as well. With both of them holding onto each other, what occurred next was just a rapid exchange of powerful blows. Punches, kicks, scratches, headbutts were all thrown in until finally, they both slammed their fists into each others cheeks simultaneously. The impact was immense, releasing a shockwave of pure energy that shook the entire forest and filling the dome with the dead autumn leaves. They both released each other and were hurled backwards, away from each other. Then, they both vanished, the Konoha ninja popped out of existence with a puff of smoke, the Mist nin did likewise in an explosion of water.

"Ni."

Far below, amidst the copious amount of airborne leaves, the battle began anew almost instantaneously. They darted between the trees, clashing with kunais every once in a while.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!!" screamed the Konoha nin. Where they had been one before, now stood thirty and they all jumped the Mist nin. The dark skinned ninja leapt backwards, performing a few somersaults and landed in a partial crouch, smashing his fist upwards into a shadow clone's jaw. He pivoted his body, extending his leg as he went, sweeping two others who were within range, off of their feet. Bringing his remaining kunai to his free hand, he began to hack and slash his way through the clones, toward the real one.

"San!"

"Nice!" cried the blond ninja, "but can you deal with this!?" Five clones surrounded him quickly and charged in each with some sort of upward aimed attack. "U-zu-ma-ki!!" The Mist nin parried the first kick, actually stepping onto the clone's upside down foot. He flipped himself over, bringing his leg down to intercept the second clone's attack. The force of his attack didn't only stop the clone, but dispelled it as well. The final three attacks, however, came from directly beneath him and in his current position it had been impossible to reorient himself in time to avoid them. Instead, he curled his body into a fetal position and allowed his forearms to take the brunt of the attacks. He was hurled into the air at ungodly speeds. The Mist shinobi twisted his body imperceptibly, extending his limbs so as to minimize his landing velocity. Then, suddenly, his chin smashed into his own chest. "Naruto Rendan!" He had been so preoccupied with the grounded clones that he had absolutely no idea that the real one had snuck above him and because of it, he was punished with a devious kick to the back of his head. The result being that his carefully controlled fall had turned into a potentially fatal plummet to the ground.

"Kage..." said the lavender haired ninja, performing a set of complicated hand seals, "Tsubasa no Jutsu!" Almost instantaneously, tendrils of purple chakra shot out of his back, weaving into each other, forming an intricate pair of vampiric ethereal wings that spread forth a full three meters when fully opened. His blond adversary, still airborne, gawked down at him in shock. The Mist nin smirked. This was an opening too tempting to miss. With one mighty flap of his wings, he darted higher into the air directly above his opponent and wrapped his hands around the boy's ankles. Holding on tightly despite his opponent's struggling, he performed two somersaults and then vaulted the Konoha ninja toward the ground. At the last possible second, the blond ninja clung on to the other's ankle as well. In a weird mesh of tangled limbs, both ninjas crashed into the ground, stirring up a rather large dust and leaf storm.

A few minutes later, it was all over. The blond haired teen stirred first, rising shakily to his hands and knees with blood dripping from his lips.

"You," he quipped, a weird grin on his face, "you're fun. What's your name?" The dark skinned young man had remained where he lay on his back, his breathing labored. He didn't quite know what to make of his opponent's sudden friendliness. He held on to his two kunai tightly.

"Rairei Shimokawa," he answered, dryly, "and you are?"

The boy shot his fist forward, thumbs up. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki," the blond said, his grin widening, "Remember it!"


End file.
